How Sweet it is….HDX Rotary Valve for Sugar

Otis Spunkmeyer Bakery, produces gourmet cookies and ready-to-bake bread dough. Company started as a cookie manufacturer and has become the leading producer of contract baked goods for retailers and restaurants. They are committed to making better products with fewer ingredients and none of the “funky stuff”.

The Problem
Company had a previously installed rotary valve handling sugar with large “chunk” pieces causing valve to jamb and frequent downtime. The constant failures became a maintenance nightmare. Jim Lierow, maintenance manager, reached out to Meyer looking for a solution to his reliability issues with the production line. Jim has had over 34 years of experience with using rotary valves at other companies such as Purina and Chobani.

Process Specifications
The rotary valve is installed below a twin screw auger beneath the sugar silo. The valve then feeds into a 4” pressure pneumatic conveying line handling 9,000 lbs/hr of sugar. Sugar tends to be hydroscopic and builds up on the walls of the valve’s housing and headplates.

Solution
Meyer provided an 8×8 HDX (heavy duty) rotary valves which are designed with oversized shafts to handle tough applications such as processing sugar. The blade construction was modified for this project adding a knife edge bevel which reduces the land are and the drag on the housing and headplates. Meyer’s blade construction is up to 2 times thicker than many other valve manufacturers, providing the extra strength to power through chunk pieces while eliminating housing build-up issues. To improve packing life Meyer air purged the Teflon packing with a lantern ring and high pressure compressed air.

Results
After the current valve was replaced with the Meyer 8X8HDX, the frequent downtime was eliminated and company saved thousands of dollars in lost production and maintenance costs. According to Jim Lierow, “the Meyer 8” HDX valve we installed is the best rotary valve I’ve ever seen”.